FAST FACTS ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix
The heavily-revamped Hungaroring will play host to the 40th Hungarian Grand Prix today. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers some vital facts ahead of the Budapest round.
Today’s Hungarian Grand Prix will be the 40th F1 race in Hungary. The track that is situated just on the outskirts of Hungary’s capital Budapest made its debut in 1986 and has run uninterrupted since.
Only Monza has a record of a longer run of consecutive races which has staged a race in every single year since 1950 except 1980 when Imola hosted the Italian Grand Prix.
Long history – Although Hungary joined the F1 circus in 1986, one needs to look back further to find the first ever Hungarian Grand Prix. The first GP was held in 1936 over a 5km track laid out in Népliget, a huge park in Budapest. That race was only staged once with Alfa Romeo’s Tazio Nuvolari taking the victory.
King of the ring - Lewis Hamilton still holds the record for most wins in Hungary. The Briton has won eight times, taking victory both for McLaren and Mercedes. Michael Schumacher is the second most successful drivers with four triumphs followed by Ayrton Senna with three victories.
The fastest lap – The British seven-time world champion not only holds the record for most wins around the Hungaroring, but he also claims the fastest ever race lap. The Stevenage-born driver recorded a lap of 1m16.627s at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Short – With 4381m, the Hungaroring is one of its shortest tracks on the current calendar. Fans usually love the short nature of the circuit as during the race they can witness the cars 70 times roaring past the grandstands.
The total race distance is 306.630km. Drivers have to adhere to the speed limit of 80km/h in the rather tight and hence slightly dangerous pit lane.
Other records – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen secured his first pole position on the Hungaroring, setting the fastest lap in the qualifying session for the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix. When it comes to the fastest laps, it is the German seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who holds the record with four.
Drag reduction system - There will be two consecutive DRS zones at the Hungaroring sharing a detection point 5m before Turn 14. Activation points are 40m after Turn 14 and 6m after Turn 1.
Milestone - Six drivers have claimed a maiden F1 win at the Hungaroring. Damon Hill took his first victory in 1993, with Williams, Fernando Alonso scored his first win in 2003, with Renault, and Jenson Button scored his maiden victory here in 2006 with Honda.
In 2008, it was Heikki Kovalainen who scored his first F1 win following Felipe Massa’s engine blow-up in the closing stages of the race. 2021 saw Alpine’s racer Esteban Ocon take his first F1 triumph in the rain-affected race, whilst McLaren's Oscar Piastri claimed his maiden F1 triump last year.
The softer end – Formula One's tyre supplier Pirelli has brought compounds from the softer end of its six-compound range to the Hungaroring: C3 as the P Zero White hard, C4 as the P Zero Yellow medium, C5 as the P Zero Red soft. With the introduction of the brand-new C6 compound, this selection means that the Milan-based tyre manufacturer did not supply teams with its softest tyres.
Traction - The twisty Hungarian race course isn’t a particularly high-energy circuit, with smooth asphalt that’s sometimes bumpy in places, and the demands on tyres being more about traction than braking.
Technical - The tight and twisty Hungaroring is often likened to Monaco due to its nature. The 4.3km track is one of the slowest permanent tracks on the Formula 1 calendar and it's often referred to as an oversized go-kart track due to its slow corners and wide, elongated kerbs.
In fact, it was even slower in the past until 2003 when the layout underwent some changed: the length of the pit straight was extended by around 200 metres to make it 908 metres long.
Home hero - Hungary has only ever had one Formula 1 driver: Zsolt Baumgartner. The Hungarian made his debut in 2003 on home turf when he was drafted in to replace Ralph Firman, who crashed heavily in practice. Baumgartner then joined Minardi for the following year and scored a championship point at the United States Grand Prix.
